NHL 100

Headlines

Discipline key as rival Bruins, Canadiens open series

by
Matt Kalman
/ NHL.com

CANADIENS at BRUINS

TV: NBCSN, CBC, RDS

Season series: The Boston Bruins played one of their most complete games of the season while defeating the Canadiens, 4-1, March 12 at Bell Centre. However, the rest of the season series belonged to the Montreal Canadiens, who won two games in regulation and another in a shootout.

In a scheduling quirk, Montreal starting goaltender Carey Price only played once against the Bruins. He won 2-1. Forward Max Pacioretty and defenseman Alexei Emelin had two goals each against Boston, while center Patrice Bergeron led the Bruins with two goals against Montreal.

Big story: This is the 34th meeting between the Bruins and Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the mutual dislike between the two organizations never seems to dissipate.

"You know you just naturally learn to hate the Montreal Canadiens, and the battles that we've had with them over the last couple years, it's definitely made you hate them," Bruins forward Milan Lucic said. "And I think this being the first time meeting them outside the first round [since 1992], I think it's definitely going to go up another level."

Discipline is sure to be a major issue in this Eastern Conference Second Round series. The team that displays more of it will take the upper hand.

Team Scope:

Canadiens: Despite the results on the scoreboard, not everything is perfect for Montreal. The Canadiens swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in four games in the first round. But Montreal is still concerned about its special teams. The Canadiens were 2-for-13 on the power play against the Lightning. On the other hand, the Bruins were 18-for-20 on the penalty kill against the Detroit Red Wings in a five-game first-round series win.

"We worked on the power play [Monday] and we'll work on it more," coach Michel Therrien said. "We want to create momentum on the power play and we're working with that in mind."

Montreal's penalty kill was 5-for-7 against the Lightning.

Bruins: The Bruins lost three times in four tries against Detroit in the regular season, so they know all about turning around a head-to-head matchup in the playoffs and aren't bothered by their three regular-season defeats to the Canadiens.

"I think it's just about who's going to do their homework a little bit better," center David Krejci said. "And then we've just got to trust the system and go out there and do the job. I think we have a pretty good team here, and if we'll do our homework right, then we should be able to get some results."

Who's hot: Canadiens forwards Brendan Gallagher and Rene Bourque had three goals each in the sweep of the Lightning. … Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask stopped 146 of 152 shots (.961 save percentage) in the first round. Bergeron had five points and Lucic had three goals against the Red Wings.

Injury report: Montreal forward Travis Moen (head) has been practicing and looks likely to return. Forward Alex Galchenyuk (leg) has started skating. … Boston forward Daniel Paille (head) has been cleared for contact and should be available for Game 1. Center Chris Kelly (back), and defensemen Dennis Seidenberg (ACL/MCL) and Adam McQuaid (quad) are out. Seidenberg is the only one of that group that is skating. He hasn't been cleared for contact.